Ghosted: A Social History of Ghost Hunting, and Why We Keep Looking

A social, historical and scientific exploration of ghost-hunting, and why our fascination with the paranormal is as timeless as the ghosts we hope to find.

The history of ghosts is ancient, but the history of active ghost-hunting is relatively recent, and investigations into the paranormal have developed hand-in-spirit-hand with scientific discoveries, from radio waves to smartphone apps. Now, more than ever, we want to find our own ghosts. Is it to help process grief? Become influencers? Or ease our fears of death?

Ghosted follows the story of paranormal investigations from the Victorian era to the modern day, examining how our fascination with ghost hunting has changed alongside technology and culture. Where we once gathered around tables, observing and recording every movement of the medium, we now take electronic equipment and app-laden phones around haunted locations to catch ghosts digitally. Where theatres and concert halls held sold-out performances by conjurers recreating the tricks of fraudulent mediums, we now delight in picking apart and exposing the evidence presented on reality television programmes.

In this book, Alice Vernon embarks on a journey to encounter a ghost, travelling to some of the UK’s most haunted locations and encouraging readers to interrogate their own scepticism and belief. Ghosted examines what we are looking for, why we are looking for it, and why have we never given up the ghost.

Dr Alice Vernon is Lecturer in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University. Her debut book, Night Terrors (Icon Books, 2022) explored troubled sleep in literature and culture, and was BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week. Her research focuses on parapsychology, sleep disorders, and the horror genre.